To extinguish a fire, firefighters spray water from a water source through a hose. The water sources are often fire trucks, known as pumpers, which pressurize water flowing from a fire hydrant so that the water has enough force to travel to the end of the hose and be sprayed on the fire. The hoses have couplings on each end that enable the hoses to be joined to other hoses, valves, or the water source. For example, if a hose is too short to reach a fire, hose extensions can be attached to each other with mated couplings. It is common to extend the length of a hose from a pumper by running a single larger diameter hose from the pumper towards the fire, mate the end of the hose to a Y-valve, and attach smaller diameter hose extensions to each branch of the Y-valve.
The discharge from each branch of the Y-valve is controlled independently, which affords firefighters the ability to control when and where the water is spraying. This is particularly important when the free end of the hose is being carried to the fire, because the pressure of the water being discharged is so great that if discharge happens unexpectedly, a firefighter can be knocked off balance or spray huge volumes of water where it isn't needed, thereby causing water damage unnecessarily.
Y-valves for such use are usually ball valves that are gated with handles that rotate around an axis perpendicular to the branch. The handles rotate freely from a closed position to an open position. Unfortunately, handles on known Y-valves do not lock in place, so as the hose is being carried to the desired location for fighting the fire, the valve handles can be knocked on the ground, doorways, or other objects that cause them to open unexpectedly. Conversely, bumping the valve handles around can also cause them to close unexpectedly. The sudden lack of water may allow the fire to engulf the firefighter or the structure. It would be advantageous to be able to keep the valves in their desired open or closed positions until turned on or off by a firefighter.
Of course, firefighters wear fire-resistant equipment when fighting a fire, including heavy gloves. These gloves make it difficult to make small, precise movements with one's fingers, however it is often necessary to turn the valves off and on quickly. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a locking Y-valve that can be opened or closed easily while wearing firefighting equipment. And, such a locking valve system must be designed to withstand adrenaline-charged, strong hands and arms turning it on and off.
The design of existing Y-valves, particularly for firefighting, is reliable save for the lack of locking branches. Specifically, Y-valves are typically cast in heavy duty steel, and are sized and threaded according to accepted standards. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a mechanism that can be attached to the existing accepted Y-valve to convert it into a locking Y-valve with the above-described advantages.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a locking Y-valve. It is a further object of this invention to provide a locking Y-valve in which each branch can be independently locked opened or closed. It is another object to provide a locking Y-valve that can be unlocked and opened or closed easily with one hand, yet can be relied upon to remain in a locked open or closed position even in rough handling or inadvertent contact. It is another object to provide an assembly that can be retrofit onto existing Y-valves to convert them into locking Y-valves.